City of Vancouver boosts advertising buy in Canwest press and reduces spending in ethnic and locally owned newspapers
When the Vancouver Police Department decided to publish its annual report in a local newspaper, it didn’t launch a competitive bidding process. Nor did the VPD choose to publish this information in any languages other than English. Instead, it chose to buy four full pages of advertising in the Vancouver Sun on August 31. According to Const. Lindsey Houghton, it cost the VPD $28,000 to prepare and publish this material.
The four-page section featured 17 photos, including two of Mayor Gregor Robertson and two of Chief Jim Chu. “We put it out at this time because we feel we’re obligated to tell the public what we’re doing, how we’re keeping them safe,” Houghton told the Georgia Straight.
Under the leadership of Robertson and the Vision Vancouver–controlled council, the city has significantly increased advertising in Canwest Global Communications Corp.–owned newspapers—notably in the Vancouver Sun—while sharply cutting back expenditures in ethnic and locally owned publications. According to data obtained through Straight freedom-of-information requests, the city reduced advertising expenditures by 45 percent in the two major Chinese-language papers, Ming Pao and Sing Tao, between January 1 and July 23 compared with the same period last year. The Straight, which is a locally owned independent paper, saw its city advertising shrink 45 percent over the same period. City advertising spending in the Indo-Canadian Voice declined 51 percent.
Meanwhile, city advertising in the Vancouver Sun and Province, which are owned by Canwest, rose 40 percent between January and July of 2009 compared to the same period in the previous year, when the NPA ruled the city. This figure doesn’t include the VPD’s annual report—which appeared on August 31—but it does include a $38,692.50 city ad in the Vancouver Sun to promote the Burrard Bridge bike-lane trial.
The city places newspaper ads for such things as employment opportunities, public hearings, the park board’s annual report, public announcements, and open houses. Robertson, who chairs the Vancouver police board, refused the Straight’s request for an interview on the city’s decision to steer more money toward Canwest.
The city chose to advertise the Burrard Bridge trial in the Vancouver Sun and the Canwest-owned Vancouver Courier, but did not place ads in the Straight, the West Ender, 24 hours, Metro, or Xtra! West. According to a 2007 Ipsos Reid readership survey, the Straight has more readers per single issue and more cyclists reading it than any other newspaper in Vancouver. The Ipsos Reid readership survey noted that 107,000 Vancouverites participate in mountain biking or road biking “twice a month or more often”. Of those, 56,200 were past-week Straight readers (53-percent share); 42,000 were past-week Thursday Vancouver Sun readers (39-percent market share); and 32,900 were past-week Friday Vancouver Courier readers (31-percent share).
In effect, the city chose to place its ads about the Burrard Bridge trial in papers with significantly fewer cyclist readers, according to the 2007 Ipsos Reid study. Recent city statistics indicate that the numbers of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists using the Burrard Bridge in the week of August 17 to August 23 were all down significantly from the first week of the lane-reallocation trial in mid-July. The number of cyclists dropped 22.7 percent; the number of pedestrians was down 16.8 percent; and the number of vehicles declined five percent.
In terms of city advertising, the Straight fared better than Xtra! West and Metro, which didn’t receive any money over the period covered by the freedom-of-information request. No Korean, Taiwanese, or Philippine newspapers received any city advertising either. Canwest’s share of city advertising, however, rose from 68 percent to 78 percent under Vision Vancouver.
City advertising remained stable in Canwest’s community paper, the Vancouver Courier, as well as in papers published by Black Press, which is a large Victoria-based company that owns the West Ender. Canada’s largest newspaper publisher, Quebecor Inc., owns the commuter paper 24 hours, which enjoyed a 140-percent increase in city advertising from January 1 to July 23 compared with the same period of 2008.
In the first eight months of this year, the city spent $5.63 in the Vancouver Courier for every dollar spent in the Straight. The city spent $4.54 in the Vancouver Courier for every dollar spent in Chinese-language newspapers.
In the 2006 census, almost 50 percent of Vancouver residents had a mother tongue other than English. More than 140,000 Vancouver residents reported having a Chinese dialect as their mother tongue. It’s clear from the city’s ad buys that many of these residents are likely not seeing nearly as many city ads—including employment ads—in their own language as are English-speaking readers of Canwest newspapers.
City advertising purchases | ||
Publication | January 1, 2008, to July 23, 2008 | January 1, 2009, to July 23, 2009 |
Sun and Province | $104,018.42 | $145,993.70 |
Vancouver Courier | $90,570.41 | $90,554.08 |
Georgia Straight | $29,348.82 | $16,085.42 |
24 hours | $5,337.12 | $12,830.63 |
Ming Pao | $19,732.75 | $10,948.57 |
Sing Tao | $15,169.23 | $8,550.36 |
Black Press | $6,692.49 | $6,731.59 |
Indo-Canadian Voice | $9,137.76 | $4,472.00 |
Link | $3,746.52 | $3,902.33 |
Business in Vancouver | $4,346.36 | $3,037.60 |
Comments
9 Comments
seth
Sep 3, 2009 at 7:51am
As the last election demonstrated it is a brave politician that ventures forth without the support of Canwest/Gordo.
Old Gregor "Three- Peat" Robertson is just buying support for his next campaign with city taxpayers money.
Sort of fits the definition of fascism doesn't it.
seth
Bob6382
Sep 3, 2009 at 9:35am
To be fair, I don't think the point of the ads about the Burrard Bridge trial was to reach cyclists, it was to reach drivers.
I'd love to see a comparison of what ad space in each of those papers costs, perhaps along with the readership of each paper. Did the city perhaps go for the paper with the best combination of cost + readership levels?
Charlie Smith
Sep 3, 2009 at 9:56am
I'm pretty certain that the VPD could have reached a lot more Vancouver residents at a cheaper price if it put this up for bid. The real question, however, is this: why is the VPD spending huge amounts of money in a slow economy to publish an annual report in a newspaper? Why is the Vancouver park board doing this? Do you know any companies that publish annual reports in daily newspapers? If the Vancouver library board did this, people would say this money would be better spent on public services. Jamie Graham cooked up this annual report idea. Jim Chu has carried on with it. Gregor Robertson, as chair of the police board, has not questioned this decision. And the VPD manages once again to spend more tax dollars, with Canwest being the beneficiary.
Wesley
Sep 3, 2009 at 1:02pm
Isn't there a Georgia Straight sales department that can hit the streets and carry your pitch?
You fail to mention circulation numbers. Audience size/reach always factor into media buying decisions.
You also fail to mention that mother tongue does not preclude secondary language skills and comprehension, therefore it cannot be said that the English publications are likely not referenced by ethnic communities and their residents for editorial or advertising content.
Do you have proof you can publish that Robertson has not questioned the decision to publish VPD annual reports in daily newspapers?
Mmmichael
Sep 3, 2009 at 2:19pm
Although I am an employee at a Canwest newspaper, I can understand much of the criticism directed at the chain. However, I couldn't help wondering if Charlie Smith considered the fact that the papers that received the largest chunk of city ads are the ones that get delivered to Vancouver residents' homes. That strikes me as a more reasonable explanation than any sort of city-in-cahoots-with Canwest theory.
goalie01
Sep 3, 2009 at 4:37pm
Anyone in the advertising industry/business knows that IPSOS Reid surveys (let alone one from 2007 which is 2 years out of date) are not the readership benchmark that advertising agencies or anyone with an inkling of media planning uses to make advertising purchasing decisions for newspaper advertising, it's Nadbank or PMB (which is updated anually). Therefore, anyone with any sense of media experience wouldn't purchase newspaper buys based on the survey numbers from an outdated IPSOS Reid survey. Also, can you confirm if VPD placed these ads direct with the paper or was it through an advertising agency, which presumably would have done an independent analysis? This story sounds like whining about not getting the business.
sleepswithangels
Sep 3, 2009 at 9:28pm
Have a heart Charlie. Canwest is on the ropes and as much as we can't wait to see the back of them, the reality is they still have a lot of influence on voters. Of course, a lot of that influence is negative and is responsible for keeping voters away from the ballot box.
While the Straight has only had one owner in over 40 years the Sun and Province have had several who seemingly couldn't wait to unload them on the next meglomaniac with an ink addiction . Not fair to pick on a lame and pathetic pile of worthless, penny stock pulp....better to just ignore them while they dry up and blow away while we find something else to wipe our asses with.
SMBs
monty
Sep 5, 2009 at 9:20am
Contact former Premier Dosanjh about his recent comments (Kadar etc.)
Without declaring racism is behind the feds behavior, he certainly implied it. When Mr. Chu became head of the VPD, I saw a pr stunt in Victoria with a plane flying low, tailing a banner advertising join the VPD. I kinew we were all in trouble. You did not mention the Asian Post--the only paper that published GAG LAW SHUT UP BC on its front page. Probably made this group think they were back in China. Racism is alive and well.
Particularly here in parts of South Delta.
monty
BeerLeagueGoalieGuy
Dec 6, 2009 at 10:16pm
Unbelievable - I never knew 'professional' newspapers like the Straight (or should we now call it 'THE BENT') could be so immature as to whine publically in their own writing! Obviously losing out on the VPD revenues (how LONG ago was this done???) has left a very sore mark here, and in typical weak media fashion, is trying to drum up support to generate eyeballs. A smart company like VPD would put their limited resources for media in the best places possible - where they can reach the most educated, engaged and reasonable readership. This is not done in a free publication read by a majority of younger, lower earning readers who do not subscribe to the product. Come on GS, you can surely do better than this...